The present invention relates to a computerized system for obtaining medical services over a communications network, for example, the Internet. The present invention relates to a system which can be used by both individual patients and corporate consumers of medical services to determine who the appropriate provider of medical services for the consumer should be. The provider may be, for example, a particular hospital or physician. In particular, the present invention provides a method and apparatus to match a consumer of health care services to a health care service provider. The system of the invention can also be accessed by providers of medical services, for example, to update a database relating to medical services.
Various health care management systems are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,105 describes a health care management system. That system's stated aim is to integrate the “interconnection and interaction of the patient, health care provider, bank or other financial institution, utilization reviewer/case manager and employer so as to include within a single system each of the essential elements to provide patients with complete and comprehensive health care and payment therefor”. See, col. 1, lines 55-60. Another known system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,129 which describes a system for exchanging health care insurance information between an insurer and multiple health care providers. Other known systems include U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,821 for a method and apparatus for electronically accessing and distributing personal health care information and services in hospitals and homes. This disclosed system is essentially a records management system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,923 discloses a medical network management system and process in which health plan beneficiaries access a team of health care professionals over the telephone to help assess their health needs and select appropriate care.
None of the prior art systems, however, allow for a consumer of medical health care services to be matched to a health care service provider over an automated communications network. The Tallman patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,923 uses a telephonic system to help a team of health care professionals assess health needs and select appropriate care. The present invention represents an improvement over the prior art systems by using a communications network such as the Internet to allow a consumer to obtain medical health care services from an appropriate service provider.